M4

M4

London to Pont Abraham

Easily one of the most varied motorways in Britain, from urban chaos in west London and Heathrow Airport, out through the rolling hills of Gloucestershire, across the Severn Estuary and through industrial South Wales, the M4 does it all.

Routes
M4

M4 and A4

Serving Reading, Bristol and South Wales, the A4 and M4 are one of London's most important approaches. But the wildest fantasies of the sixties couldn't overcome its trickier problems.

Routes
M4 A4

No exit 05 April 2018

Bristol’s M32 recently gained a new junction for buses only. To mark this strange new addition to the motorway network, here are five places you can’t leave the motorway.

Routes
Tags

Opening booklets

In days gone by, new roads were often celebrated with a grand opening ceremony and the issue of a commemorative booklet heralding the exciting new highway. You'll find some of them here, complete with a glimpse of all that empty tarmac and a healthy dose of modernist optimism.

Histories

M4 in Wales

One man's account of the building of the M4 through Wales, seen as he grew up in Swansea and witnessed it stage by stage - a tour of the motorway from its construction to the present day.

Routes
Histories

What's new

Silver bullet

The Silvertown Tunnel is finally open for business. One question remains: what’s it for?

Skid Risk, Accident, Fog

For the first time, we can share pictures of the pioneering experiment that lit up the Worcestershire countryside with enormous signs 61 years ago.

All change

In July 2024, a new Government entered office with a very different set of priorities. What does it mean for a faltering roads programme?

Share this page

Have you seen...

Low Emission Zone

A first step towards emissions-based road pricing, a pointless measure to enforce something that's happening anyway, or another leap forward in traffic planning from the people who created the Congestion Charge? It's hard to say.